1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disc player, and more particularly, to an optical disc player having a clamp lever installed on a tray in order to prevent the position of an optical disc from deviating.
2. Description of the Related Art
An optical disc player employs an optical disc as a recording medium and reads data recorded on the optical disc, such as a compact disc, a laser disc, or a digital video disc, using a known type of optical pick-up device. The optical disc player is widely used as an auxiliary memory for a computer and for audio and video disc players.
FIG. 1A is a plan view of a conventional optical disc player and FIG. 1B schematically shows a left side view of FIG. 1A. FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II--II of FIG. 1A. A tray 13 is movably installed on a deck 11, and an optical disc D is settled on a predetermined position of the tray 13. The dotted line not indicated by a reference numeral in FIG. 1 represents a tray position during unloading, and the solid line indicated by reference numeral 13 represents a tray position during loading. A user can exchange the optical discs D on the tray 13 during unloading at the position indicated by the dotted line. One side of a bottom surface of the tray 13 is provided with a rack 16, which engages a pinion 17 of a loading motor 18 installed on one side of the deck 11, to thereby move the tray 13 between the two illustrated positions.
The deck 11 is pivotally installed centering around a hinge 12 (FIG. 2). A spindle motor 19 installed under the deck 11 rotates a turntable 21. A disc catcher bracket 14 is transversely installed over the tray 13, and a disc clamp 15 is installed in the center of the disc catcher bracket 14. An optical pick-up 20 is located under the deck 11 and is movably installed along a rail 18, to thereby read optical data from the optical disc D in a known manner. The optical pick-up 20 can be reciprocated by driving means (not shown).
In the conventional optical disc player 10, the optical disc D, when rotating, is fixed to the turntable 21 by the disc clamp 15 installed on the disc catcher bracket 14. The bottom surface of the optical disc D in a loading position contacts with the turntable 21, and the upper surface thereof contacts with the clamp 15. Here, the turntable 21 and the clamp 15 are attracted to each other by a magnetic force or an elastic biasing force, so that the optical disc D placed therebetween can be stably rotated according to the rotation of the turntable 21.
However, in the conventional optical disc player 10, there is no mechanism for fixing the optical disc D on the tray when the tray is at the unloading position. Accordingly, when the optical disc player 10 is not arranged in a horizontal orientation, the optical disc D deviates or falls from the tray, so that the optical disc D cannot be loaded or unloaded in a reliable manner. Also, the disc catcher bracket 14 is installed transversely to the tray 13 as a separate part. Since a space occupied by the disk catcher bracket 14 in the player 10 is considerably wide, it is impossible to miniaturize the player. Furthermore, since the clamp 15 cannot completely clamp the optical disc D to the turntable 21, the optical disc D does not always rotate stably.